'It was hell' says rough sleeper who turned his life around to become soup run volunteer

Alan Behan had been 'on the freephone', getting hostel beds a night or two at a time until Depaul helped him get off the streets. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

It's fair to say Alan Behan has turned his life around —  so much so that the 54-year-old, who for years was sleeping rough, is now looking into how he can help others in a similar predicament through support work and soup runs.

Alan said he first became homeless a decade ago, with marital difficulties followed by a double family tragedy when his brother and then his mother passed away within a year of each other.

"I was bad on the drink to tell you the truth, I could not cope in the house on my own," he said. "It led me to where I was being homeless.

It was hell, the trauma I had afterwards. I didn't know where I was going to end up or where I'd be — I wasted a lot of my life.

"I had been in and out of Depaul, hostel to hostel, and I really came from the streets, I was sleeping in a sleeping bag, I was on the freephone for a good while before I got a bed, all over town and a night or two here [and there] in a hostel," he said.

Depaul gave Alan stability

It was Depaul that gave him the stability to turn his life around. First, he secured a two-year stay in the charity's facility at Back Lane in Dublin, moving then to a different facility run by another homeless organisation and then back to Depaul. Alan admits his sobriety began to waver again, at which point his Depaul key worker advised him to enter full recovery mode. He underwent detox at Depaul's Orchid House, with the result that he is now working two days a week and looking forward to finally getting housing through Dublin City Council.

He is still attending as many as five Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week, cycling out to different parts of the city. It has been a long road, he said.

"There are people out there worse than myself — I've seen them in a very, very bad way, older people than I am, and I feel so sorry for them," he said, adding that before he can help them, he needed to help himself. Hence the plans to help out with soup runs.

As he puts it: "I will pay back Depaul what I got from them."